I spent the summer between my sophomore and junior year in college in Bolivia, South America. During my time there, I observed that many locals struggled to make a living, and were part of the underground economy. 

In Latin America, the government structures and policies are such that the underground economy is quite large. During the time I was in Bolivia, they had the largest underground economy of all Latin American countries, at 67% of GDP.

I didn’t understand all the reasons that caused this, but I returned to my economics classes as an undergraduate with new purpose and desire. I wanted to enable people to have greater choice in their lives and careers.

I went on to pursue a Master’s degree in economics, with the hope that I would work for a development bank in Washington, DC. I even spent another year in South America, this time working for an economic development institute, to bolster my resume and my chances of breaking into the field of economic development in Latin America.

The interviews I had at development banks were for administrative positions and not technical roles, and I eventually admitted this career path wasn’t going to happen for me. 

So I did what a third of DC residents do, and became a government consultant. 

For years, I felt that I had missed my calling. I worked in the Under Secretary’s office for a Federal agency formulating budgets for the Department Secretary, OMB, and Congress. I managed the IT investment portfolio and soon became an expert in navigating the government bureaucracy that is the Acquisition Review Process for major IT investments. I got my project management professional (PMP) certification and supported the Director of a new start-up program that had just received millions of dollars of funding from Congress. I advised him on said bureaucracy, and helped them achieve Departmental approval of their program from the governance board. 

It was all interesting. And I was learning new skills. Perhaps more importantly, I was learning that I could create value. But I wasn’t doing economic development in Latin America.

And then something happened. 

I became a team leader. And after a painful growth curve, I discovered something. I loved leading teams. And more than that, I loved helping people grow in their careers. 

It was this experience that made me realize I wanted to support professionals in their career growth as a coach.

And so here I am. Coaching amazing leaders and founders to help them bring their gifts to the world and increase their impact.

And as I look back, I realized something pretty significant.

All I have ever been doing is enabling people to have greater choice.

In consulting, it looked like providing relevant cost, performance, and schedule data to inform programmatic and budgetary decisions. 

As a coach, the conversations I have with people are entirely around increasing their capacity to come from a place of choice.

People come to me when they have a decision to make about their careers. They want the next level of leadership. They want to more effectively bring their gifts to the world. They want to feel a sense of purpose and passion in what they do.

And what I show them is that the next level of leadership or career growth is not about how you apply to that new job, or how you impress the new boss, or how you impress the board of directors. 

It’s about how you come from a place of choice in every moment. 

When you come from choice, you have absolute freedom.

When you come from choice, you have a sense of clarity and confidence.

When you come from choice, you know who you are and what matters most to you.

When you come from choice, you see possibility.

When you come from choice, you are standing in your power.

When you come from choice, you are deeply attractive and deeply influential to everyone around you.

How are you coming from a place of choice in your life and career, or where do you need to reclaim that place of choice?

I’d love to know.

Love,

Audrey